The present invention is directed to a roof shingle placement tool, and more particularly, to a tool for aligning and supporting shingles on the surface of a roof to allow for rapid and consistent installation.
Manual fixtures for laying shingles on the surface of a roof are generally known. Such fixtures generally include a support member which supports at least a portion of a course of shingles for installation, with the support member being movable in order to lay each succeeding course of shingles on the roof. One known system utilizes a pair of fixed rails and a movable support member. The fixed rails are temporarily attached to the roof, and the support member is indexed upwardly along the rails to provide a uniform exposure. However, a problem with this prior known fixture was that the rails prevented the installation of a complete course of shingles under the rail attachments, and shingles had to be filled in after the fixture was removed. Additionally, thin shingles could slip beneath the movable shingle support member if there was an irregularity in the roof surface.
Another known roof shingle placement apparatus, which was proposed by one of the co-inventors of the present invention and patented in U.S. Pat. No. 4,860,518, provides a guide or abutment surface for the bottom edges of thin pliable shingles allowing the shingles to be aligned in a row or course while ensuring that the shingles do not slip below the abutment surface at irregularities in the roof surface. However, this system also required fixed rails to be installed on the roof using standoffs to elevate the rails from the roof surface. The support member was then indexed upwardly along the rails to install the succeeding courses of shingles. While this provided some advantages over the prior known systems, it still did not allow the installation of shingles in the area of the rail supports, or required that the shingles be installed over the rail support base, with the base being slid out from under the installed shingles after the shingle installation was complete, leaving the anchoring nails in the roof.
Additionally, in laying shingles on a surface having an obstacle, such as a chimney or dormer, the prior known devices required that the fixed rails be located and attached to the roof one side of the obstacle, and then relocated and reattached to the roof on the other side of the obstacle, such that the support member could be used to lay identical courses of shingles on each side of the obstacle. This required additional set-up time for aligning and setting the fixed rails on the roof surface.
Another known apparatus provides a mechanized carriage which runs along a guide track to install shingles. The guide track is indexed upwardly relative to the roof to install succeeding courses of shingles. In another known device, a mechanized shingle carrying device is indexed upwardly relative to the guide track to install each succeeding courses of shingles.
It would be desirable to provide a fixture and method for placing shingles on the surface of a roof or vertical wall which could be easily transported to the work area rapidly assembled and installed and be easily indexed upwardly along the surface to apply succeeding courses of shingles with a minimum of structure being attached to the surface which could interfere with the placement of shingles.